De Lima: Napoles list ready, affidavit incomplete

by Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is ready to surrender to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee the list of lawmakers identified by Janet Lim Napoles as allegedly involved in the "pork barrel scam."

She said, however, that Napoles' affidavit may take some time to complete.

Speaking to reporters in a chance interview on Tuesday, De Lima said she may seek an extension of the May 15 deadline set by the committee if the affidavit is not completed and submitted to her by the Napoles camp by then.

De Lima and her team started to access the alleged "pork scam queen" beginning last April 21, when the justice chief and Napoles engaged in a 5-hour long meeting.

Napoles divulged details of the scam, involving her supposed cohorts, in that meeting and in succeeding sessions with a team from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) tasked to obtain her statement.

"Hopefully, makuha ko yun o masubmit sa amin on or before the Thursday deadline, that was given to me by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

"Kung hindi, hihingi siguro ako ng konting extension from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the affidavit. So it really depends. But again, May I just reiterate that I will comply with the subpoena," De Lima said.

De Lima was previously adamant against sharing the list and making it public, but said she would have no choice once subpoenaed by the Senate which conducted an inquiry into the
anomaly.

Asked for comment on Sec. Panfilo Lacson's revelation on ABS-CBN's late night newscast, Bandila, about the inclusion of budget chief Butch Abad, and Senators Chiz Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Gringo Honasan, and Miriam Defensor-Santiago in the list, De Lima said she would rather not confirm nor deny anything.

If there's one person who can best talk about the list and give details about the involvement of the personalities in that list in the multi-billion peso siphoning of lawmakers' "pork barrel" into bogus NGOs and projects, that is none other than Napoles herself, according to De Lima.